Sector Skills Councils

Policy Brief - Sector Skills Councils

An ETF publication giving an overview of the concept of the Sector Skills Council and the variety of forms it can take, illustrated with examples from ETF partner countries.

Short description:

This overview of the role of Sector Skills Councils, or SSCs, explains why they are useful for skills development, what benefits they provide to social partners, how they are set up and what challenges lie ahead for their ongoing development in ETF partner countries.

Depending on the country, SSCs vary in name and role. They are also referred to as sectoral skill committees, sectoral skill commissions, professional councils, joint-sectoral training committees, knowledge centres or industry training bodies. What they have in common is partnership between at least two different types of stakeholder and the provision of platforms for systematic cooperation between stakeholders in VET, in relation to defining occupational and qualification standards, as well as service design, provision and financing within a life-long learning perspective. They give VET providers direct access to knowledge and data about the economy, its various sectors and their current and future skill needs, connecting VET policy with labour market realities. In many cases SSCs play an important role in facilitating the transition from a supply-led to a demand-led logic of VET service provision.

This article provides a mapping of SSCs in terms of their coverage, the nature of their institutional mandate, their role in policy making, their ability to initiate policy dialogue and the coverage of such interchange, and the scope of their policy functions. It looks at the experience of different countries in piloting the introduction or SSCs or developing the capabilities of SSCs in countries such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova. Also provided is a summary of future challenges to be addressed in order to adopt an increasingly evidence-based approach to the provision of policy inputs, as well as to improve stakeholder engagement and apply the principles of good multilevel VET governance.

You may read the document here.